Curious Folks Ask 2: Our Fellow Creatures, Our Planet, and Beyond (FT Press Science) [Kindle Edition]

Sherry Seethaler (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This is the eBook version of the printed book.

Why do lizards do pushups? What will happen if the Earth’s magnetic field reverses? How does water get from the roots to the tops of trees? Why and how do stars die? Is there really such a thing as the green flash? In Curious Folks Ask 2: 188 Answers about Our Fellow Creatures, Our Planet, and Beyond, gifted science explainer Sherry Seethaler presents 188 of the most fascinating new questions real people have asked about science–together with answers that are clear, accurate, honest, and a pleasure to read.

Like her previous book, Curious Folks Ask, the Q&As in this book are collected from Seethaler’s popular weekly column in the San Diego Union-Tribune. From the Earth’s strangest lifeforms to the deepest reaches of the universe. Seethaler introduces exciting areas of research, cuts through myths, offers real insight into what science has learned–and reveals the continuing mysteries scientists are still working to understand.

Written in Seethaler’s trademark style, Curious Folks Ask 2: 188 Answers about Our Fellow Creatures, Our Planet, and Beyond presents sophisticated science in a lighthearted, amusing way. Seethaler’s answers will help rekindle the wonder of science in readers of all ages and backgrounds–and help them intelligently interpret the latest news about science and medicine for years to come.

From the Back Cover

More Amazing Science Q&As from the Author of Curious Folks Ask

 

Why do lizards do pushups?

Does hot water really freeze faster than cold water?

Why does the moon look bigger at the horizon?

Why do some people float and others sink?

What’s better, paper or plastic?

Why can’t anything go faster than light?

How did oil get there?

How does carbon dating work, and why do scientists trust it?

How much does the earth weigh?

Why can’t you make square soap bubbles?

 

“For those of us with science questions that range from the profound to the fanciful, Sherry Seethaler is here with the answers. She not only educates with this wonderful collection, she entertains.”

—John Cannon, Quest editor, San Diego Union-Tribune

 

“If you want to learn about the ‘Mpemba effect’ (why hot water sometimes freezes faster than cold), if you have a burning desire to know about the biosphere we live in, if you have ever wondered about why those pesky black holes don’t swallow the universe and what’s beyond the ‘edge’ of the universe, Sherry Seethaler has a knowledgeable, well-written, and research-based answer for you. Call her the Sherlock Holmes of science. With Dr. Seethaler, the hunt’s afoot for the mysteries of the world!”

—Christopher Y. Wu, PhD, Associate Director of the National Science Foundation-funded Advanced Technological Education (ATE) Mid-Pacific Information and Communications Technology Center (MPICT.org) and Principal/Founder, metacyber

 

W hat have you always wondered about? For more than seven years, renowned science writer Dr. Sherry Seethaler has answered questions like yours–both in her weekly column in the San Diego Union-Tribune and in her best-selling book Curious Folks Ask.

 

Now, she’s back, with 188 more of her best science Q&As, in another book you just can’t put down. Seethaler is one of this generation’s best science explainers, and it shows: Every answer is accurate, fun to read, and distilled to a single page–or less!

 

Want to know why diamonds sparkle? How spiders build huge webs without ever getting stuck? How birds flock? What causes tornadoes? Why hard-boiled egg yolks turn green? How much electricity your new TV uses? Why dogs vary so much in size and cats don’t? Why it’s safe for scientists to make miniature black holes? It’s all here–and plenty more!

 

Creepy crawlies and amazing animals

How big’s a bug’s brain? Do elephants hate mice? How does a kangaroo clean her pouch?

 

Freeway noise, bad hair days, and other funky phenomena

Is jewelry radioactive? Is rainwater really pure?

 

Weather, climate, and the environment

What’s the real deal with recycling, drought, hurricanes, and CO2?

 

Our planet, our universe

New oceans, dark matter, mini black holes, and beyond

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 403 KB
• Publisher: FT Press; 1 edition (November 22, 2010)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B004DI7IJG
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #215,150 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

More About the Author

Sherry Seethaler is a science writer and educator at the University of California, San Diego. She also writes a weekly column for the San Diego Union-Tribune in which she answers readers' questions spanning nearly every imaginable science topic from "Why do I sneeze when I look toward the sun?" to "Is a lightsaber possible?" to "Is one horsepower really equal to the power of one horse?" to "Why do lizards do push-ups" to "What causes out-of-body experiences?" That last question really does fall under the purview of science! You can read the answers to these and 345 other questions in Seethaler's books, Curious Folks Ask: 162 Real answers on amazing inventions, fascinating products, and medical mysteries (FT Press Science, 2010) and Curious Folks Ask 2: 188 Real answers on our fellow creatures, our planet, and beyond (FT Press Science, 2011).

Seethaler earned a bachelor of science in biochemistry and chemistry from the University of Toronto, a Master of Science and a Master of Philosophy in biology from Yale University and a Doctor of Philosophy in science and mathematics education from the University of California, Berkeley. She has studied theories of learning and the extensive literature on people's alternative ideas about mathematical and scientific concepts. Her dissertation research examined how eighth-grade students and undergraduates make sense of scientific controversy, with a focus on the genetic engineering of food.

Her passion is to help people rediscover the wonder about science that we all shared as children, before we had concluded that science meant facts to be memorized from a textbook. Back then science meant bugs and slugs, trees and seas, stars and scars, rocks and... (well, you get the picture). Science is also a way of approaching problems and a way of thinking about the world that we can each apply to making better reasoned health, political and consumer decisions. Unfortunately, precollege and even college science classes often fail to teach us how to do this. To fill that gap, her book Lies, Damned Lies, and Science: How to sort through the noise around global warming, the latest health claims, and other scientific controversies (FT Press Science, 2009) is an empowering yet palatable set of tools for making sense of the health and science-related issues we encounter in our daily lives.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Good, February 2, 2011

By 

Shirley Priscilla Johnson "Author/Reviewer -... (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Curious Folks Ask 2: 188 Real Answers on Our Fellow Creatures, Our Planet, and Beyond (FT Press Science) (Paperback)

(What's this?)

I am a curious person and I always like a book filled with trivia or giving me knowledge of a little of this and a little of that on any given subject. I really wanted to review this book and gain some insight; I was not disappointed.
Our author, Sherry Seethaler does a bang-up job in both education and entertainment in this work. She answers questions such as:

If black holes gobble everything in their surroundings, wouldn't the whole universe end up in one big black hole?

Do ants breathe? If so, what happens to them when it rains? Do they drown? Do their breathing apparatus get flooded, killing them?

And I LOVED this one: I found a dead fly in my refrigerator(days unknown) and throw it in the sink. A few minutes later, it flew away. How is this possible? Can a fly live in the refrigerator? How long do flies live?

The answer to these and so many other questions will amaze you. They are given in a very knowledgeable way, but not long and drawn out where it becomes a chore to read them. That was a plus. I devoured this book in one evening and I am spouting off to others what I have learned. Hum ----- a book that gives me ammunition to act a little smarter than I am.....that's pretty good. I have gone back to this read numerous times just for the refreshing of the facts.

This is a great book. You learn so much without being bogged down reading what is not important to the question. Written in an easy to understand way you are sure to leave this read with satisfaction that indeed you have fed your mind and enjoyed the meal. Very well done.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Maintain your position as Monarch of Useless Information., May 25, 2011

By 

TCL (Guilford, CT USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Curious Folks Ask 2: 188 Real Answers on Our Fellow Creatures, Our Planet, and Beyond (FT Press Science) (Paperback)

(What's this?)

This volume has snippets of information and interesting facts divided into 8 chapters on:

1)Creepy Crawlies
2)Amazing Animals
3)Vitally Vegetal
4)Funky Phenomena
5)Environmental Effects
6)Home Planet
7)The Heavens
8)Far Out

Recommended for those that like to read in easily digestible chunks, trivia maniacs, know-it-alls and those that are curious and like to read about anything and everything. This would also be a great book for kids in the "Why?-stage" and those that don't read except for on the toilet. Each topic is long enough to be informative but not long enough to encourage toilet-reading-associated health risks.

Compared to other books in this category, this is organized in medium length paragraphs (that go into a bit more detail than usual) one after another under each chapter rather than each subject per page.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not quite as interesting as volume 1, but passed the time., February 7, 2011

By 

Jana Taylor (Iowa, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Curious Folks Ask 2: 188 Real Answers on Our Fellow Creatures, Our Planet, and Beyond (FT Press Science) (Paperback)

(What's this?)

This book is written in a Q and A format, where an interesting question is asked that most people probably have wondered about and then it is answered in a clear concise way.

I also got Curious Folks Ask volume 1 and I really enjoyed that one. The questions were interesting and in many cases ones I had wondered about myself.

This volume two follows the same format as volume one, there is a question and then the answer follows. I didn't find this volume's questions as interesting as the first edition... for instance "Why do clothes get darker when they get wet?" I know there is an explanation but I just didn't really care. There seemed to be more questions in this book that didn't really catch my interest. But enough did that I was able to get through the book. I liked the funky phenomenon portion a great deal.

That is merely an opinion based on my interests. It could be that some people will like volume 2 better than 1. Probably no way to tell until you read both.